Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC yesterday informed the Office for Reparation Chairperson Dhara Wijetillake to make arrangements to establish a Victim Fund formulating a scheme to award the sums ordered as compensation in a fair and equitable manner for the victim families as per the judgement delivered by the seven member Bench of the Supreme Court on Fundamental Rights petitions seeking prosecution for those responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks.
The Attorney General in a letter to the chairperson of the Office of Reparation said the Supreme Court order had stated that the individual respondents who have been named in the judgement must make their compensation payment to the Victim Fund and the relevant respondents have been directed to make the payment out of their personal funds.
He said that the Supreme Court has ordered that a progress report on the scheme of payment and the details of payments made by the respondents and by any benefactors must be made available to the Supreme Court with six months from the judgement. The letter said that the Office of Reparation must also investigate the alleged complaints of underpayments and non-payments as regards the Cabinet decision taken the compensate the victims. The letter said that the Supreme Court has also ordered in the judgement that accurate information by way of a motion should be made available to the Supreme Court with regard to the above matters within three months from the date of the judgement.
The Attorney General said in the letter that the Supreme Court had directed him to co-ordinate and liaise with the Office of Reparation to give effect to its order. “It is imperative that the aforementioned orders of the Supreme Court are complied with and given effect without any delay,” the letter said.A landmark judgement regarding the failure on the part of executive branch of the government the country’s apex court on Thursday ordered former President Maithripala Sirisena who held the Defence Ministry to pay Rs.100 million as compensation to the Easter Sunday victims.
